Frozen
by FemaleSpock
Summary: He is the the one who makes him feel alive. She is the one who picks up the pieces at the end of the day. Even now he was still caught in a teenage love triangle. Pairings: Aarch/Adium, Aarch/Artegor.


Frozen

**Disclaimer:**** I do not own Galactik Football and I make no money from this fanfiction. **

He kisses her lips, smearing her red lipstick slightly, his hands mussing her similarly red hair. He remembers the days when she used to use gloss instead, before she grew up, before she started wearing pencil skirts and prim blouses. He never would have guessed back then that she'd become League President, she'd had such a wild streak, partying more than she should when in training. He didn't know how long it had taken her to make the transition- he hadn't been there. He wondered whether it had been because of the Ice-Age, or whether it had just happened gradually over time, but he didn't dare ask.

He leaves again now, her clear green eyes watching him steadily. Even with her self-restraint, she's like a blaze of colour against the perpetual Akillian Snow. He can't help but look back.

He'll see her again soon, maybe tomorrow, or the next day. He knows she'd prefer it if they moved in together, like a real couple, but he won't ask so she won't either. Marriage remains the most distant of dreams for her but she tries not to let on, she worries too much about scaring him away.

The only commitment in Aarch's life that had ever lasted was to the sport.

That he happens to come across Artegor is a coincidence. It always is. It's strange how often they seem to occur for people supposedly avoiding each other. They'd decided- the first decision they'd been able to agree on for a while- that it was better that they didn't see each other more than they had too. It was better because no matter what, things between them always got violent. They brought out the worst in each other and it was horrific yet breathtaking the route it always led them down.

It had been Artegor's turn first, the strength of his hatred for Aarch had been famous throughout the Galaxy, it had made him somewhat of a laughing stock (not that he had been aware of it, or would have cared even if he had known). But he'd been on the Smog then, they were both so sure that it was that, and nothing else that had caused the rift that had gone on for almost two decades.

After Paradisia, neither one of them was sure. It'd been Aarch's turn for paranoia and resentment and this time there was no convenient explanation.

Looking back, there had never really been a golden age for the two of them. Even before the Ice-Age, before the Smog, they'd never been right together. They'd argued, they'd fought, and they'd kissed in that frantic way that was more like a forceful collision than any gesture of love.

And now here they were again, falling back into old habits, neither wanting really wanting to. They just didn't know how to be any different.

Artegor had moved on from the hatred that had defined him, become a better, wiser person free from the petty self-centeredness of the teenage love that had stayed burning in his heart for so long. Yet there he was. With Aarch. Again.

Aarch couldn't even pretend to have grown up.

It always brought him back, being there in Artegor's black and white world, it was so easy when you had that mind set.

He leaves without saying goodbye, because it isn't the end, he knows better than to pretend that now. He won't see Artegor for a while now; they've separated their lives out so effectively, only crossing paths every so often.

The next day he sees Adium again, back to normal; a nice date, in a nice restaurant. All of it spoilt because he can't stop himself from ranting on about Artegor, carefully omitting certain pieces of information. He knows she'd bored of it, he's bored of it himself, but he can't stop.

She speaks, evenly as ever, gently chiding him for letting Artegor infringe upon their lives again- she's got nothing against him, personally, it's just the effect he has on Aarch she dislikes.

Sometimes she feels like she's their teacher or their mother even, always called upon to sort out the petty squabbles; she's used to it with her job, but she wishes that she didn't have to constantly babysit Aarch.

At her request, he stops talking about Artegor, but it looks like a strain on him. She changes the topic and he goes along with it, contributing with enough enthusiasm.

But his heart isn't in it, not fully. She sighs and hopes that one day she won't have to merely content herself with Aarch's minimum commitment. She's just waiting, still waiting for him, like she always has.

It would have been far easier for her if he didn't love her- that would have given her enough of an excuse to walk away for good.

He goes back to work feeling dissatisfied as ever. He should choose and he knows that he should choose Adium. But he can't, neither one gives them everything that he needs. He's an adult now but he's still caught in the teenage love triangle that had begun so many years ago.

Adium doesn't know; she doesn't want to know. She's better off this way, it make Artegor sick every time he thinks of Aarch with her.

They are all waiting, waiting for something to change, but it never does.

They stay where they are, frozen like Akillian snow.

**Yeah, that's it for this fic, sorry I haven't written anything for a while (coursework and UCAS and all that). Please review!**


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